INDIANAPOLIS -- Irvington residents are dealing with an abandoned business littered with trash and damaged cars.
Neighbors are fighting the problem and getting answers about the property.
It's owned by a man who lives out of state, and it's currently leased to Church's Chicken. They still pay rent on the boarded-up building and their lease isn't up until 2024.
The property has become a dumping ground for household trash and tires, and a place for people experiencing homelessness to live in their cars, according to Allison Hazel. She recently purchased a nearby apartment complex and said she wants to turn it into affordable housing. The building sits behind the former Church's Chicken restaurant.
"It's a blight and a danger to the community," Hazel said.
RTV6 cameras watched the property for about an hour Wednesday and recorded people using the property as a parking lot. There are cars on blocks and vehicles with flat tires.
"I contacted the mayor's action center and put in a complaint there," Hazel said.
The site has been inspected by the city, and a notice of trash violation was generated.
"We are in the middle of a food desert here, so I would love to see this property developed into a neighborhood market," Hazel said.
A reporter reached out to the broker for Church's Chicken. She said the lease is priced above market value, so no one will sublease, and the owner won't adjust or terminate the lease. So Church's will keep paying rent and the building will remain empty for now.
"They currently have no financial incentive to do anything about it," Hazel said.
She's not the only one who notices the problems at the property. Jim Burleson lives nearby.
"With anything, it sits stagnant, sits empty for a while, it's going to attract certain activities," he said.
A spokesman for Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department said concerns about the property will be sent to the community resource office for the district.
Burleson said he's tired of the trash and has noticed vagrancy on the property in the past. He's ready for any kind of progress.
"It got boarded up and nothing's been done about it ever since," he said.
The city will eventually clean up the property and bill the owners if nothing gets done. But Hazel is hoping they'll sell or let another tenant in who will take better care of it.
"I think that if we could talk to the owners personally and let them know what kind of an asset this could be to the neighborhood, we can get to them," she said.
Anyone can report issues in Indianapolis and Marion County to the Mayor's Action Center. Click here for more information.
